Gujarat: BJP crosses key 100 lead mark in India state polls

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has comfortably pulled ahead with leads released for all 182 seats in crucial elections in India's Gujarat state.

The party is leading in 106 of the 182-seat assembly, according to election authorities.

The main rival Congress party is ahead in 70 seats. In 2012, the BJP won 116 seats while Congress won 61.

Gujarat is a stronghold state for the BJP, which has governed for 22 years.

Stock markets which opened lower on Monday after early leads put the Congress ahead, have recovered.

Mr Modi was chief minister of Gujarat three times and won the national vote because of his work there. To lose the state polls would have been a loss of face.

He held more than three dozen meetings in the state and campaigned on economic development and Hindu nationalism to woo voters.

The prime minister's decision to ban high value currency notes in November 2016 and the way the newly introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented is believed to have fuelled anger against the party in Gujarat.

State BJP member R Bala told the Reuters news agency that the election was the "toughest" they had fought there.

The BJP is also forging ahead in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, where it is leading in 39 of the 65 seats for which leads are available. The Congress is ahead in 23 seats.

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Polling in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh was held between 9 and 14 December.

More than 68% of Gujarat's 43 million eligible voters cast their ballots, while Himachal Pradesh saw a voter turnout of about 74%.